1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a communication terminal for receiving and printing image information sent via the Internet.
2. Description of Related Art
Techniques for sending image information output from a facsimile and a scanner via the Internet are known. For example, a computer at the receiving end receives the sent image information, displays the information on a display, checks whether the displayed contents are contents to be printed, and if so, prints the displayed contents.
However, in the above conventional type communication terminal, if facsimile data is frequently sent or received between companies, such a procedure is very troublesome and working efficiency for printing received image data is reduced. That is, there is a problem that the above conventional type communication terminal cannot automatically go from receiving to printing as in a normal facsimile.
In addition, when facsimile receiving/sending is performed via the Internet, for example, either a system as shown in FIG. 12(A), in which it is connected to a provider 103 through a public line 102 from a facsimile device 101 and connected to the Internet 104 through the provider 103, or a system as shown in FIG. 12(B), in which the facsimile device 101 is directly connected with the Internet 104, is used. In FIG. 12(A), the facsimile device 101 has a function of receiving/sending G3 compressed data (data which has been encoded according to the G3 standard), and in the system of FIG. 12(B), the facsimile device 101 has a function of receiving/sending TIFF compressed data (data which has been encoded in the TIFF format).
Thus, when the operator wants to perform facsimile transmission through both the public line network and the Internet, it is necessary to handle two kinds of data, G3 and TIFF, in one facsimile device. Therefore, for example, a TIFF buffer to accumulate the TIFF compressed data which was received via the Internet and a G3 buffer to accumulate the G3 compressed data which was received via the public line network are needed, and additional memory capacity is required.
The invention provides a communication terminal which can automatically print required image information received via the Internet. Specifically, a communication terminal is provided with receiving means for receiving image information via the Internet and a printer for printing the image information received by the receiving means onto a printing medium. The communication terminal operates such that if image information received by the receiving means complies with a predetermined format, printing instructing means instructs the printer to print the image information and the printer prints the image information received by the receiving means onto a printing medium.
The communication terminal may also enable image information to be read by reading means for reading information recorded on an original.
The communication terminal may also include receiving means that is provided with a function for receiving an electronic mail via the Internet and the above predetermined format denotes an image file according to a tag image file format (TIFF) attached to an electronic mail.
The communication terminal may also include a printer that is provided with a power source which enables activation when an activation instruction signal is input and printing instructing means provided with activation instruction signal output means for outputting an activation instruction signal to the printer when the printing instructing means instructs the printer to print received read information.
A storage medium stores a program for controlling a communication terminal provided with receiving means for receiving image information via the Internet and a printer for printing image information received by the receiving means on a printing medium. The storage medium operates such that if image information received by the receiving means complies with a predetermined format, the storage medium stores a computer program including a printing instruction program for instructing the printer to print the image information.
The communication terminal may also operate such that if image information received by receiving means for receiving image information via the Internet complies with a predetermined format, the above printing instructing means instructs the above printer to print the image information and the printer prints the image information onto a printing medium according to an instruction by the printing instructing means. That is, if received image information complies with a predetermined format, the image information can be automatically printed onto a printing medium by the printer.
Therefore, if the format of image information to be automatically printed has only to be preset, the user is saved from performing the labor that is involved when the image information is printed by the printer after the user receives displays and checks the image information.
In addition, the received image information may be information read by reading means for reading information recorded on an original. That is, facsimile data (read information) read by a facsimile (reading means) can be sent via the Internet, however, in that case, at the receiving end, facsimile data is required to be automatically printed as in a normal facsimile.
Facsimile data can only be automatically printed as in a normal facsimile by setting the predetermined format where facsimile data (read information) is sent via the Internet and determining whether the received data is facsimile data based upon that format.
Receiving means is provided with a function for receiving an electronic mail via the Internet and the above predetermined format is an image TIFF file attached to the electronic mail. That is, image information can be sent as a file attached to an electronic mail and for the format of such a file, a TIFF file is often used.
Therefore, if it is determined at the receiving end that a file attached to a received electronic mail is a TIFF file, the contents of the file can be automatically printed by a printer, and information attached to the electronic mail can be automatically received and printed.
Further, the activation instruction signal output means provided to the printing instructing means, outputs an activation instruction signal to a printer when the printer is instructed to print received read information and a power source provided to the printer is structured so that the printer is started when an activation instruction signal is input.
That is, the power source of a printer is not required to be powered on. Thus, because the power source of the printer is powered on only when an activation instruction signal is input, the power consumption of the printer can be reduced.
The storage medium may store a program for controlling a communication terminal provided with receiving means for receiving image information via the Internet and a printer for printing the image information received by the receiving means onto a printing medium. A computer program including a printing instruction program for instructing the printer to print the image information, is also stored in case the image information received by the receiving means complies with a predetermined format. That is, the computer can execute the printing instructing means by installing the program stored in the storage medium in the computer.
As described above, because the communication terminal is structured so that image information is automatically printed by the printer if the received image information complies with a predetermined format, the image information can be automatically printed on a printing medium if the format of image information requiring printing of image information received via the Internet has only to be set as a predetermined format.
Particularly, as the above image information is information read by reading means for reading information recorded on an original, it can be determined whether the read information can be automatically printed if the read information is sent via the Internet and the format is preset.
Therefore, the communication terminal can function as a normal facsimile. In addition, because receiving means is provided with a function for receiving an electronic mail via the Internet and TIFF is set as a predetermined format, it is determined whether the format of a file attached to the electronic mail is TIFF and in the case of TIFF, the contents of the file can be printed by the printer. As image information is often converted in TIFF if image information is sent along with it as an attachment to an electronic mail, processing from receiving to printing can be automated by determining whether printing on a printing medium is executed based upon whether the format is TIFF, as in the case of a normal facsimile.
Further, as the activation instruction signal output means outputs an activation instruction signal to the printer and the power source provided to the printer is activated according to the activation instruction signal when the printer is instructed to print received read information, the power source of the printer is not required to be continuously activated and as the power source of the printer is activated only when an activation instruction signal is input, the power consumption of the printer can be reduced.
In addition, a storage medium stores a program for controlling the communication terminal provided with receiving means for receiving image information via the Internet and the printer for printing the image information received by the receiving means onto a printing medium. The computer program includes a printing instructing program for instructing the printer to print image information if the image information received by the receiving means complies with a predetermined format. Therefore, the communication terminal can print image information received via the Internet automatically.
Another aspect of the invention provides a communication terminal in the form of a facsimile device that receives information via the Internet and can handle two kinds of data, G3 and TIFF, without enlarging memory capacity.
The facsimile device may include G3 facsimile receiving means to receive facsimile data comprising G3 compressed data via a public line network, a G3 buffer to accumulate G3 compressed data which the G3 facsimile receiving means has received, Internet receiving means to receive data, which was converted to electronic mail based upon TIFF compressed data, via the Internet, TIFF-G3 conversion means to convert the TIFF compressed data which the Internet receiving means received to G3 compressed data and write the data to the G3 buffer, G3 decompression means to read the G3 compressed data from the G3 buffer and decompress the data into image data, and printing means to print the image data which was decompressed by the G3 decompression means on recording paper.
TIFF compressed data which has been received via the Internet by the Internet receiving means, is written in the G3 buffer after being converted into the G3 compressed data by the TIFF-G3 conversion means. More specifically, a process, such as TIFF decompressionxe2x86x92temporary storage into image bufferxe2x86x92image buffer readingxe2x86x92G3 compressionxe2x86x92G3 buffer writing, is preferably performed.
Furthermore, because the data which was received via the Internet is in an electronic mail format, the above processing is performed after the data is reversely converted into a format by the Internet receiving means and made into TIFF compressed data.
Thus, the data which was written in the G3 buffer is decompressed (decoded into image data) by the G3 decompression means and printed on recording paper by the printing means. As for the G3 compressed data which is received via the public line network, the data is written into the G3 buffer as-is and printed on recording paper by the printing means after the data is decompressed by the G3 decompression means. As a result, the TIFF buffer to accumulate the TIFF compression data which is received via the Internet is not needed and it is possible to save memory capacity. Moreover, prior to printing the data on recording paper, both the data via the public line network and the data via the Internet go through the same route and are output to the printing means.
In addition, the facsimile device may also include document reading means to read a document, G3 compression means to G3-compress the image data which was read by the document reading means, a G3 buffer to accumulate data which was G3-compressed by the G3 compression means, G3 facsimile transmitting means to read the G3 compression data from the G3 buffer and send the data to a public line network, G3-TIFF conversion means to read the G3 compression data from the G3 buffer and convert the data into TIFF compression data, and Internet transmitting means to send data which was converted to electronic mail based upon the TIFF compression data which was converted by the G3-TIFF conversion means to the Internet.
The document which is read by the document reading means is always G3-compressed and accumulated in the G3 buffer. Then, when the data is sent via the public line network, the G3 compression data which was read from G3 buffer is sent as-is through the G3 facsimile transmitting means. Meanwhile, when the data is sent via the Internet, after the G3 compression data which was read from the G3 buffer is converted to TIFF compression data by the G3-TIFF conversion means, the data is sent through the Internet transmission means. More specifically, a process, such as reading data from the G3 bufferxe2x86x92G3 decompressionxe2x86x92temporarily storage in the image bufferxe2x86x92image buffer readingxe2x86x92TIFF compressionxe2x86x92output to the Internet, is preferably performed. Furthermore, the Internet transmitting means performs a format conversion of the TIFF compression data to an electronic mail format prior to outputting the data to the Internet. Therefore, prior to reading the document, it is not necessary to accumulate the TIFF compression data as data for going through the Internet, and it is possible to save memory capacity and use the same reading route.
The facsimile device may also include G3 decompression means to read the G3 compression data from the G3 buffer and decompress the data, printing means to print the image data which was decompressed by the G3 decompression means on recording paper, G3 facsimile receiving/transmitting means to read the G3 compression data from the G3 buffer and transmit the data to a public line network and write the G3 compression data which was received from the public line network into the G3 buffer, Internet receiving/transmitting means to receive/transmit data, which has been converted to electronic mail based upon TIFF compression data, via the Internet, G3-TIFF conversion means to read the G3 compression data from the G3 buffer and convert the data into TIFF compression data and output the data to the Internet receiving/transmitting means, and TIFF-G3 conversion means to convert the TIFF compression data which the Internet receiving/transmitting means received into G3 compression data and write the data in the G3 buffer. Accordingly, it is possible to receive/transmit two kinds of data, G3 and TIFF, by facsimile without enlarging the memory capacity because each operation in the devices.
In addition, when the data is received, it is determined by the receiving route determination means whether the data is received via a public line network or via the Internet. Furthermore, when it is determined that the data was received via the public line network by the received data accumulation control means, the received data is written as-is in the G3 buffer. Conversely, when it is determined that the data has been received via the Internet, the received data undergoes format reversing conversion from an electronic mail format to a TIFF compression data format, TIFF decompression is performed, the data is temporarily returned to image data, and the image data is G3-compressed and written in the G3 buffer. Thus, upon completing the accumulation of G3-compressed facsimile data in the G3 buffer, the printing means reads the G3 compression data from G3 buffer and prints out the data on recording paper as the G3 decompression is performed.
The facsimile device may also transmit facsimile data comprising G3 compression data via a public line network, and data which has been converted to electronic mail based upon TIFF compression data, via the Internet. The facsimile device may comprise transmission data accumulation means to read a document to be transmitted and accumulates it to the G3 buffer as G3 compressed data, address designating means to designate an address through either a telephone number or an electronic mail address, and transmission control means which, when the address is designated as a telephone number by the address designating means, transmits the G3 compression data which was accumulated in the G3 buffer as-is via the public line network as facsimile data, and, when the address is designated as an electronic mail address by the address designating means, reads the G3 compression data which was accumulated in the G3 buffer, performs G3 decompression, temporarily returns the data to image data, performs TIFF compression on the image data, and sends the data to the Internet after performing a format conversion on the data from the TIFF compression data to electronic mail format data.
The document to be transmitted is accumulated in the G3 buffer as G3 compression data by the transmission data accumulating means. Furthermore, prior to the facsimile transmission, either a telephone number or an electronic mail address is designated by the address designating means. When this designation is performed as a telephone number, the transmission control means sends the G3 compression data which was accumulated in the G3 buffer as-is via a public line network as facsimile data. Meanwhile, when the address designation is performed as an electronic mail address, the transmission control means reads the G3 compression data which is accumulated in the G3 buffer, G3 decompression is performed, the data is temporarily returned to image data, TIFF compression is performed on the image data, the TIFF compression data is converted into an electronic mail format, and then the data is sent to the Internet.